


High School Never Ends

by WhatsYourNameMan



Series: It’s not Sunset Cis either [13]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Back to School, F/M, Luke and Reggie have ADHD, M/M, None of the Phantoms are cis and I think that’s beautiful, Post-Canon, Trans Alex Mercer, Trans Character, Trans Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Trans Reggie Peters, he/they willie, mentions of bullying/transphobia/homophobia, sort of a character study of each of the ghosts, tags will update as I post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28456293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsYourNameMan/pseuds/WhatsYourNameMan
Summary: “So,” Ray says once everyone starts to dig in. “We need to have a family chat.”Ray doesn’t miss the way Alex and Reggie tense immediately, nor the comforting hands Luke and Willie put on them.“About what?” Julie asks, and Ray is glad to hear the lack of worry in her voice. Since meeting the boys, he’s realized how much he’s done right that their parents must have gotten wrong.Ray levels a look at the four ghosts. “School.”
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Carrie Wilson & Alex Mercer, Flynn & Alex Mercer & Carlos Molina & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Willie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Kayla & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Nick & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Ray Molina & Tía Victoria & all the kids, Willie & Flynn
Series: It’s not Sunset Cis either [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022667
Comments: 64
Kudos: 360





	1. Four Years, You Think For Sure, That’s All You’ll Have to Endure

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings for this chapter: mentions of bullying, transphobia, and homophobia. 
> 
> This one was requested by chaoslaura on tumblr “maybe something with visiting julie in school and seeing how much has changed and the boys relationship with school” and I combined that with an Ao3 request from Slaygirl1616: “the boys going back to school.”  
> Title and chapter names from “High School Never Ends” by Bowling for Soup.

“Luke, no fair!” Carlos yelps as Luke’s ghostly arm passes through his chest to grab the bread roll Carlos was reaching for. 

Luke smirks, taking a bite of the roll. “Gotta be quicker little dude,” he says through a mouth full of bread. 

Ray Molina’s kitchen is crowded at the best of times, but on family dinner nights when Victoria and Willie join, it descends into full-on uncontrollable chaos. Tonight, Ray made the mistake of laying out food on the kitchen counter and allowing the kids to form a serving line, rather than just pass the dishes around the table. He thought it would bring more order to the process. He was so very wrong. 

“Lucas,” Victoria snaps from her place at the end of the line. “No eating until after we say Grace. And don’t speak with your mouth full.” 

Luke swallows the bread and hangs his head. “Sorry, Tía.”

“And no ghost powers in the kitchen,” Ray adds. “We’ve been over this.”

Reggie raises his hand. “Technically, we have to use our powers to eat, so...”

Ray sighs. “You know what I meant.” 

“Alex,” Julie groans. “Just pick a piece and go.” 

“I’m just a little wary around pork, okay?” Alex protests. “I want to make sure my piece is cooked properly. I think it’s justified.”

“Not when it takes five minutes for you to make a decision,” Julie argues. 

“Okay,” Victoria barks. “Everyone, shut up and sit down. We’re passing plates like a civilized family.” She shoots Ray a look, and he raises his hands in defeat. 

“But—“ Carlos starts. 

“Cállate,” Victoria snaps. 

Willie tries, “Tía—“

“Siéntate.” 

Ray lets out a sigh of relief as the six kids shuffle silently into the dining room, having the decency to look ashamed of themselves. He reaches for the plate of pork and looks towards Victoria. 

“We haven’t even gotten to the hard part of tonight.”

Victoria rolls her eyes and loads the side dishes onto her arms like a waitress. “I don’t see what’s so hard about it. Just don’t allow any arguments from any of them.”

“That’s not really how we do things around here.”

“This isn’t their decision to make, Ray.”

Ray sighs, but he knows she’s right. He follows her into the dining room and they place the dishes onto the table. The dishes are passed around—quietly and respectfully under Victoria’s withering glare— and Reggie takes his turn to say Grace. 

“So,” Ray says once everyone starts to dig in. “We need to have a family chat.” 

Ray doesn’t miss the way Alex and Reggie tense immediately, nor the comforting hands Luke and Willie put on them. 

“About what?” Julie asks, and Ray is glad to hear the lack of worry in her voice. Since meeting the boys, he’s realized how much he’s done right that their parents must have gotten wrong. 

Ray levels a look at the four ghosts. “School.” 

Reggie relaxes, but it’s like he passes the tension to Luke. 

“We’re going to enroll you at Los Feliz,” Victoria. 

“Why?” Luke asks, his hand curling into a fist. Julie places a gentle hand on it, and he unclenches it to grab her hand instead. “We’re dead; we don’t need school.”

Ray is prepared for this argument, from Luke specifically. He’s unclear on Reggie, Alex, and Willie’s relationship with school, but he knows for sure that Luke was a dropout. “You might be ghosts, but you’re becoming more and more part of the living world every day. This will be a great way for you to adjust to 2020.” 

Luke considers this point, but he still doesn’t look satisfied. “Our band is already way bigger that Sunset Curve was when I dropped out. Why can’t that be how we adjust?”

“As great as that is,” Ray says, gently, “Julie still has two more years to go, and the band is not becoming a full time gig until then.”

Victoria nods. “It’s important to at least have a high school degree. We can talk about college when it comes to that, but for now, you might as well finish school with Julie.” 

“But we can’t _do_ anything with a degree,” Luke pushes back. “We don’t even legally exist. How would you even get us enrolled?”

“Tía pulled some strings with the school board,” Ray explains. 

“I have friends in high places,” Victoria shrugs, with a little self-satisfied smirk. “And they went through a lot of trouble to do this for you, so it’s a non-negotiable.”

Luke huffs and crosses his arms, throwing himself back in his seat. “You sound like my parents,” he mutters. 

“Luke,” Alex whispers with a soft shake of his head. Luke’s eyes flick up to meet his. “Think, don’t react,” Alex says, trying to be as quiet as possible so the other members of the table don’t hear. Luke nods and turns his gaze down towards the table. Alex can see the gears turning. 

“How do you three feel about this?” Ray asks, turning to the other ghosts. 

“Um,” Willie says, tentatively, which is odd for them. “I already graduated from high school.” 

“You’re only seventeen,” Victoria frowns. 

Willie reaches for the key around his neck and starts fiddling with it. “Yeah, I skipped two grades.” 

Alex’s head shoots up to look at his boyfriend. “What? I thought you said you were a dropout.” 

Willie ducks their head, the tips of his ears tinged red. “A college dropout. Turns out the whole ‘child prodigy’ thing isn’t really my scene.” 

Alex openly gapes at them. “That’s—wow. Okay. We’re gonna talk about that later.” 

“That definitely complicates things,” Victoria hums. “It still might be good for you to go back. I know you’re more caught up on culture than these boys, but a lot of the curriculum’s changed since the 80s.” 

Luke pipes back up. “But why would he _need_ any of that?” He turns to Willie. “You said that tattoo guy was going to let you apprentice for him, right?” Willie nods, and Luke continues, “So why would he need to know how math has changed since he died?”

Victoria opens her mouth to argue, but Willie beats her to it, sending a small smile at Luke. “I’ll think about it,” they say. “I do like learning, so maybe it’ll be better without the pressure to be some sort of genius.” 

“Alex?” Ray asks. “Reggie?” 

“I don’t love the idea,” Alex admits. His hands find the strap of his fanny pack, and he squeezes it to feel the edges digging into his palm. “School wasn’t great. For any of us. There were... bullies. I don’t— to be honest, it was kind of a relief that death meant we wouldn’t have to go back.” 

Ray feels a ping of guilt somewhere near his heart. He maybe assumed the worst of the boys, thinking that they just had an aversion to the actual work and discipline of school. He never really stopped to consider the social aspect, or how hard it must have been for them to be living so authentically in the 90s. 

Reggie squeezes Alex’s arm. “The people sucked,” he says, “but remember how we tutored each other and hung out with the librarians? That was, like, one of the highlights of my life, man. School could be fun, and things are a whole lot better now. _People_ are a whole lot better now.” He turns to Ray and Victoria. “I’d be down to try.” 

Alex studies Reggie’s eyes, trying to find any fault in his confidence. When he comes up short, he turns to Ray and gives a tentative nod. “Okay.” 

Luke huffs. “I’m still not hearing any convincing arguments.” He gestures to the other ghosts. “They might be nerds, but I never got anything useful out of school.” 

“And how much of that was you intentionally not learning so you could spite your parents?” Alex shoots back, maybe a little offended at being called a nerd.

“That’s not fair,” Luke starts. 

“Alex,” Reggie interrupts, his voice stern, but kind. “It’s not his fault, remember?” Recognition crosses Alex’s face, and he backs down. Reggie turns to the rest of the table, moving his hand from Alex to Luke. “Luke and I have ADHD. Most of our teachers refused to do anything to help us with it.”

“And that’s exactly why school is a waste of time,” Luke growls. “The teachers don’t care, and the students are vicious, and it makes it impossible to learn anything.” 

“Oh, mijo,” Victoria mutters. Luke tenses at the pity in her voice, but he doesn’t say anything. “I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. But I promise, it’s a lot better now. Los Feliz has lots of accommodations for students with ADHD.”

“And I’ll be there with you guys,” Julie chimes in. “Flynn and I can be there for you whenever you need us. Some of our classmates suck, yeah, but even they know bullying someone for their gender or sexuality isn’t cool.” She locks eyes with Luke. “Do you trust me?”

Luke nods without hesitation. Of course he trusts her. 

“Then believe me when I say you’ll be fine,” she says. “I’ll make sure of it.” 

Luke still looks hesitant, so Ray plays his last card, his secret weapon he’s hoping will seal the deal. “They’re going to let you audition for the music program.” 

This grabs the boys’ attention. 

“Really?” Luke asks, his voice cracking. 

Ray nods. “Or the art program, for Willie.”

Willie beams and squeezes Alex’s hand. 

“You’re all so talented,” Ray continues. “There’s no way you won’t get in.” He focuses in on Luke specifically. “I know you’re not passionate about school, but maybe studying music will help?”

Luke takes a long moment to consider this. Finally, he gives a nod so small Ray would have missed it if he wasn’t looking for it. 

“Great,” Victoria says, leaning back with a self-satisfied smirk. “You’ll start on Monday.” 

“Monday?” Alex and Luke yelp in unison. 

“Yep, so you better get studying,” Victoria says. “Now eat, the pernil is getting cold.” 

As the kids dig in, Victoria sends a victory smirk towards Ray. He has to hand it to her, but she’s not the one who will have to deal with whatever potential fallout comes after their first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each chapter after this will be focused on one of the Phantoms going throughout their day. Reggie is up first. 
> 
> Also, the tattoo guy Luke mentions is Max from “Tattoos of Memories and Dead Skin on Trial.”


	2. And You Still Don’t Have the Right Looks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reggie’s fingers haven’t left the sleeves of his flannel since he put it on this morning. He’s excited to go back to school, he really is. He missed it, and not just because of the pretty girls, like Luke and Alex teased him for after the spirit rally performance. That excitement isn’t stopping his hands from shaking, though, as all the the old stressors of the first day of school mix with the new ghostly complications and his limited knowledge of the 21st century.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings: Reggie briefly worries he’ll be deadnamed, and Alex almost has an anxiety attack. 
> 
> If you haven’t read the rest of the series, all you need to know is that Carrie and Alex became friends and Alex joins Dirty Candi for rehearsals.

Reggie’s fingers haven’t left the sleeves of his flannel since he put it on this morning. He’s excited to go back to school, he really is. He missed it, and not just because of the pretty girls, like Luke and Alex teased him for after the spirit rally performance. That excitement isn’t stopping his hands from shaking, though, as all the the old stressors of the first day of school mix with the new ghostly complications and his limited knowledge of the 21st century. He can’t even imagine how Luke and Alex must be feeling, if even Reggie is this nervous. 

He tries to scope out their feelings as they walk into the building together with Julie and Carlos. Alex, always the worst at hiding his nerves, is walking with his shoulder pressed into Willie’s. They don’t hold hands, but Willie doesn’t seem to mind. He’s already flashing smiles at their new classmates they pass. Luke is holding Julie’s hand, and to an outsider he’d probably come off as more intimidating than anything. He’s strutting with his chest puffed out and his head held high, but Reggie knows him well enough to know his bravado is a coverup for his fear. 

They enter the building together, and Reggie takes a moment to take in the crowded hallway. To him, it’s technically only been about 6 months since he was last in school, but so much has changed since then that it feels like a lifetime. Or an after-lifetime. 

Julie shows each of them their lockers, one at a time so they don’t have to split the group. Reggie is pleasantly surprised to find they’re all relatively close to Julie’s, as they’re arranged alphabetically. The girls and Willie keep the boys distracted with cheerful chatter until it’s time to go to homeroom and Willie splits off. Since they were already a college student (Reggie still can’t make that make sense in his mind), Tía agreed to enroll them as a senior rather than a junior like the others. Alex and Luke complained about it for the whole weekend. Thankfully, though, everyone else is in the same homeroom, and they settle as a group in the back just as the bell rings.

The teacher—Ms. Donaldson, she tells them— pulls out her roster to start taking attendance, and Reggie’s anxiety levels increase tenfold. He can see it happen in Alex and Luke too, but at least they have the knowledge that their names are legal. Reggie never got to change his, and he tries to remind himself that Ray doesn’t even know his deadname, so there’s no way he could be registered under it, but the memories of being publicly deadnamed on countless first days flood his mind. 

“Alexander Mercer,” Donaldson calls, and Reggie sees Alex slump in relief as he raises his hand. “Julie Molina. Lucas Patterson.” Luke sticks his hand up proudly and Reggie sucks in a deep breath, knowing what’s coming next. “Reginald Peters.” 

A grin splits across Reggie’s face and he raises his hand. “Here.” 

He’s able to relax for the rest of homeroom, but when the bell rings it’s time for him to break off from the rest of his friends. The administrators tried to give the band similar schedules, but with Reggie and Luke’s ADHD, they’re forced to split up at some point. They all have English this period, but since that’s the subject Reggie struggles with the most, he’s off to a smaller class more tailored to his needs. At least, that’s what Julie assures him when the group drops him off at his room. 

“See you later, buddy,” Luke says, cuffing Reggie’s shoulder. 

Alex offers a fist bump. “You got this.” 

Reggie rolls his eyes, but he taps his fist against Alex’s. “I’m more worried about you guys,” he jokes. “Try not to get into too much trouble without me.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alex assures him. 

“How about we don’t get into any trouble at all?” Julie suggests, and Luke makes a disgusted face at the notion. “Speaking of which,” Julie says, “we’re gonna be late if we don’t get moving. Let’s go.”

She ushers the others down the hall, and Reggie wanders into his own classroom. He glances around at the other students, but he doesn’t recognize any of them. He tugs his leather jacket a little tighter around himself and plops himself down in the back row. He’s torn between playing up his bad boy look so he can get through this period without any interaction, or playing it down so he can try to make some new friends. 

He’s contemplating shrugging off his jacket when a girl drops into the seat next to him. 

“Hey,” she says, “aren’t you one of Julie’s holograms?” 

She looks familiar. Reggie studies her face, and suddenly it clicks. “Yeah, you’re in Dirty Candi, right?” 

She nods, her face lighting up. “I’m Kayla,” she says, extending her hand, and Reggie realizes with a start that for all the times he attempted to talk to her when he was invisible, he never actually knew her name. 

“Reggie,” he says, shaking her hand.

“I didn’t know you’d seen us perform,” Kayla admits. “I thought you guys just moved here.” 

Reggie quickly tries to piece together something other than _We’ve been at every performance, you just couldn’t see or hear us._ “Julie showed us some of your videos. They’re really good.”

“Thanks!” Kayla chirps. “I like your sound, too. Your style’s a little old fashioned, but...”

“Oh,” Reggie frowns down at his outfit. “Really?” He’d always thought his look was kind of timeless. It was certainly better than Alex and Willie’s tacky socks. 

“I like it though!” Kayla adds quickly. “Me and some of the other girls want to try a more vintage look for one of our performances, but I think Carrie doesn’t want to look anything like her dad used to.” 

Reggie chuckles at the thought of Carrie in Bobby’s old black leather vest and red suspenders. “Well, hey,” he says. “I know this great thrift shop. Maybe we can go this weekend and put together some killer costumes for Dirty Candi.” 

Kayla looks surprised by the offer, but she smiles. “Yeah, okay. That sounds fun.” 

Reggie beams as the teacher calls for their attention and begins class. Since they’re a few weeks into the semester, Reggie’s a little behind, but the teacher takes the time to catch him up. He’s surprised to find that he actually understands the material in a way he’s never been able to before. There are still things he struggles with, but the teacher is kind and patient, and Kayla helps him out too when the teacher is busy with another student. 

The class flies by in no time, and by the end of it he feels like he’s already been friends with Kayla for years. 

“What do you have next?” Kayla asks as they pack up their things. 

“Guitar.” Reggie swings his backpack over his shoulder. “What about you?” 

“Dance. We’re heading in the same direction.”

They leave the classroom together, and about halfway down the hall, Kayla asks, “If you’re from Sweden, why don’t you have an accent? I’ve tried asking Alex about it but he really only talks to Carrie when he comes to our rehearsals.” 

“He’s just shy,” Reggie chuckles. “He’ll warm up to you eventually.” He pauses, raking together all the details of the cover story Julie helped the boys come up with. “Me and the guys are American—well, Luke is Canadian—but we were raised on an army base in Sweden.”

“Oh cool,” Kayla says. They reach the gym doors and she opens her mouth to ask another question, but she’s cut off by Alex slamming into Reggie. 

“Reg,” Alex gasps. Reggie knows the look in his eyes all too well; he’s on the verge of a panic attack. 

“Woah, man, take a deep breath,” Reggie says. He puts a steadying hand on Alex’s chest. “What’s wrong?” 

“They put me in the advanced dance class,” Alex says, still fighting for breath. 

“And that’s a bad thing?” Reggie asks. 

“ _Yes_ , because I was supposed to be with Julie all day and no one told me I was gonna have to leave her and I don’t know if I can do this without her and—“

“Lexi,” Reggie interrupts. “It’s okay. You’re an amazing dancer; you deserve to be in the advanced class. And you won’t be alone, okay? Kayla’s in this class. You know Kayla, right?” 

He gestures to Kayla, and Alex nods. 

“Yeah,” Alex breathes. “Hi Kayla.”

Kayla gives him a little wave. “Carrie and the other girls are in this class too.”

“See?” Reggie says. “You’ve got friends. You’ve got skills. You’re gonna kill it.” 

Alex takes in a few deep breaths and nods. “Okay. Okay, I got this.” He gives Reggie a shaky smile. “Thanks, buddy.” 

Reggie claps him on the shoulder and pushes him towards the doors. “You got this.” He turns to Kayla. “And text me later about thrift shopping.”

Kayla shoots him a thumbs up and leads Alex into the gym. Reggie finds his way to his next class, a new spring in his step. He’s only two periods into the day, but it’s already been significantly better than most school days when he was alive. 

He enters the guitar classroom and finds Luke sulking in the back. Reggie knows Luke isn’t enjoying this nearly as much as he is, but as he takes his seat next to his friend he decides he’s not going to let Luke’s foul mood being him down from this high.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a college senior so I honestly have no idea what high school is like anymore but hopefully I’m somewhere in the ballpark. 
> 
> Also, for your consideration: potential one shot of Reggie and Kayla thrifting together? 
> 
> Alex is up next :)


	3. And You Don’t Have The Right Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is, to put it frankly, yak-in-a-bowl nervous. Reggie had managed to drag him away from the edge of an anxiety attack, but it didn’t do much to quell the rising tide of panic inside him. He just doesn’t understand how he could have made a mistake this big. He had spent hours studying and memorizing his schedule ahead of time, yet he somehow didn’t notice until he tried walking into Julie’s dance class and the teacher told him he was in the wrong class. It was a major curveball, and Alex hates baseball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings for some minor anxiety, non-explicit fear of homophobia
> 
> I didn’t mean for this chapter to be so long but once I got writing the Willex scene I just couldn’t stop. Someone on tumblr came up with the idea that Alex calls Willie ‘Traffic Jam’ as revenge for the Hotdog nickname and I’m obsessed with it so that’s a thing now.

Alex is, to put it frankly, yak-in-a-bowl nervous. Reggie had managed to drag him away from the edge of an anxiety attack, but it didn’t do much to quell the rising tide of panic inside him. He just doesn’t understand how he could have made a mistake this big. He had spent hours studying and memorizing his schedule ahead of time, yet he somehow didn’t notice until he tried walking into Julie’s dance class and the teacher told him he was in the wrong class. It was a major curveball, and Alex hates baseball. 

He doesn’t even have Willie to help calm him down. At first, he was more or less okay with the fact that they’d be separated for most of the day. Willie had been more than understanding when Alex asked them to limit the PDA at school, but they tend to be very touchy without thinking about it and Alex doesn’t want to out himself on the first day. Now, though, Alex thinks it might be worth outing himself just to hold Willie’s hand. 

Instead, he clings to Carrie, not leaving her side throughout warmups. 

“I’m not a life preserver, Alex,” Carrie snaps about ten minutes in. She yanks her arm away from him. “You don’t need my help to stretch.” 

Alex rolls his eyes, but all he can muster in response is a muttered, “Shut up.”

Carrie scoffs. “ _Shut up?_ That’s all you have for me?” She turns to look at him, a joking look in her eyes, but she falters when she takes in the state he’s in. “Oh. Are you okay?”

Alex gives her a small shake of the head, but he continues following along with the warm up. 

“Just focus on the music, okay?” Carrie leans over and gives his arm a quick squeeze. 

Alex nods and does as she says, letting the music fill his mind. It seeps into his muscles, and his breathing syncs up with the beat. Slowly but surely, he lets his body take over, focusing all his energy on mirroring the instructor. He hears Reggie’s voice in his head reminding him to _own your awesomeness_ , and he finally slips into the zone, confident in his ability to keep up with the class.

After warmup, the instructor runs the class through the choreography they’ve learned so far, taking time to catch Alex up. 

“You’re a quick learner,” she tells him with an approving nod, and he feels his chest swell with pride. 

After they’ve learned the choreo, she splits the class up into groups to work on it together. She must have noticed his attachment to Carrie, because she groups all of Dirty Candi together and throws Alex in with them. The six of them claim the back corner of the gym and form a circle to start running the choreography. 

“How’re you liking Los Feliz, Alex?” Kayla asks. 

“It’s a lot better than my old school,” Alex shrugs.

“It’s pretty cool that your whole band got to move here together,” Skylar says. “How’d you get your parents to agree to that?”

“They, um, they didn’t come with us,” Alex says, and he supposes it’s not an outright lie. “The band is more important than anything at this point, and the Molinas were willing to take us in, so it just made sense to move.”

“That’s so sweet of them,” Zoey coos. Carrie rolls her eyes, but Alex catches the ghost of a fond smile on her face. 

“Who was that other new kid with you?” Olivia asks. 

“And is he single?” Skylar chimes in. 

Alex nearly trips over himself, but he jumps back into the routine and hopes that none of notice his slip up. “Uh,” he stutters, his voice an octave higher than he would like it to be. “No—he—um, that’s Willie. He’s, uh, he’s not single.”

Carrie shoots him a confused look, and he turns away from her, his cheeks burning. 

“Damn,” Skylar sighs. “He’s really cute.” 

Alex’s jaw clenches, and unfortunately, Carrie notices. 

“Alex,” she says, “I accidentally threw my sweatshirt on top of the bleachers. Will you help me get it down?”

Alex nods, sending a wave of gratitude her way, and she pulls him over to where the bleaches have been tucked into the wall. He spots her sweatshirt on top of them and stretches up onto his tiptoes to reach it. 

“You can tell them about Willie, if you want,” Carrie whispers. “You don’t have to, obviously, but…” She glances over at the rest of the girls. “They’re safe. I would trust them with my life.”

Alex runs his fingers over the soft fabric of Carrie’s sweatshirt. “Thanks, Carrie. I’ll think about it. It’s just hard.” He holds out the sweatshirt to her. 

She takes it and squeezes his hand. “I know.” She tugs the sweatshirt over her head. “But nothing a little dance can’t fix, right?”

Alex smiles and she pulls him back over to their circle. He spends the rest of class trying to get back into the zone, but there are two little voices in his head squabbling about whether or not he should tell the girls, and it’s very annoying. The more rational voice, the one Alex knows he should listen to more, asserts that he’s not ashamed of his identity, and he sure as hell isn’t ashamed of Willie. The Dirty Candi girls are the closest things he has to friends outside the band, and if Carrie trusts them, then he should too. The other voice isn’t really making coherent arguments, it’s just sort of screaming _no no bad wrong danger_ and so on. Alex really hates that voice. 

The bell rings after what feels like an eternity, and Alex lets out a sigh of relief that he has to split off from the girls to go change, giving him a moment to think to himself. He’s one of few guys in the class, so it’s easy to find himself an isolated corner of the locker room. Luke and Reggie like to tease him about liking dance so much (all from a place of love, of course), but he guesses they’d give anything now to avoid the packed locker room at their general phys. ed class. 

When he emerges from the locker room, he’s surprised to find Willie standing in the doorway of the gym. Their eyes meet Alex’s and their face lights up. 

“Hey, Hotdog,” they grin. 

“Hey, Traffic Jam,” Alex retorts, and Willie snorts at the nickname. “What’re you doing here?”

Willie puts on a suave smile. “I thought I’d be a good gentle… damnit,” His smile falters. “I don’t know a gender neutral term for ‘gentleman.’” They let out a little huff. “I want to walk you to class.”

“Oh, a romantic,” Alex teases, making sure to keep his voice low.

Whatever Willie’s about to say next is cut off by the arrival of Dirty Candi in all their glory. 

“Ooh,” Zoey calls, “is this Willie?” 

Alex turns to face the girls. His eyes flick over to Carrie, and she gives him a reassuring smile. 

“Yeah, this is Willie,” Alex says. He slips his hand into Willie’s. “My boyfriend.”

Willie looks at Alex in surprise, but they quickly turn their charming smile onto the girls. “Hi,” he says, “it’s nice to finally meet you guys.”

Alex glances over at Skylar, whose face has gone bright red. 

“Alex,” she whines, “why didn’t you tell me I was thirsting over your boyfriend? I would have stopped.”

Willie grins. “You were thirsting over me?” 

“Okay,” Alex says, tugging Willie towards the door. “That’s enough.” He turns back to Skylar. “They already know how pretty they are, you don’t need to feed their ego.”

“I’m fine with it,” Willie says, giggling as Alex shoves him out the door. 

Out in the public area of the hallway, Alex drops Willie’s hands, but they walk close enough to knock their shoulders together. 

“So dance went well, then?” Willie asks. 

“Yep,” Alex says in a forcefully cheery tone, “only two panic attacks.”

“Quite an accomplishment,” Willie laughs. They bump Alex’s shoulder with their own. “Are you okay?” he asks, his tone much softer.

“Yeah,” Alex says, sending them a quick smile so they know he’s genuine. “I think it’s gonna be a good class. I’m actually excited for it.”

“Good,” Willie says, with a satisfied nod, like they’d orchestrated it this way. “You know what I’m _not_ excited for? Graphic design.”

“But that’s an art class,” Alex says. 

“I’m a forty-eight-year-old dropout, Alex,” Willie says, “I don’t know shit about computers.” 

Alex rolls his eyes. “Yeah, Mx. Child Prodigy will be so helpless in this class.”

“I’m serious, man,” Willie says. He puts on his best Old Man Voice and hunches over, placing a hand on his back. “I’m so old.”

Alex laughs, and that’s all the encouragement Willie needs. They lean all their weight onto Alex. “I’m so weak, I can’t even walk.” They reach a shaking hand up and place it on Alex’s cheek. “Will you help me get to class, young man?”

Alex doesn’t want to, but he can’t stop laughing. “Stop” he manages to gasp out. 

Willie leans even farther into him. “Oh no, I’m falling and I can’t get up.” He starts sliding down Alex’s body.

“Willie!” Alex yelps, and he catches them, lifting them back up to their feet. Both of them are laughing uncontrollably. 

Willie grins and nods his head towards the classroom they’ve stopped in front of. “Look at that,” he says in his normal voice. “You made it all the way between classes without having a panic attack.”

Alex looks at the door and realizes that this is, indeed, his math class. “You’re the worst,” he says, with a huge grin on his face.

“I know,” Willie shoots back. “I’ll see you later, Hotdog.” 

Before he leaves, Willie flashes him a quick hand gesture that Alex wouldn’t have had time to register if he hadn’t trained himself to look for it. It’s the ASL sign for _I love you,_ something they picked up as a way of showing affection when Alex got nervous about PDA. Willie threw people shakas so often (an infuriating yet adorable habit), that they figured no one would notice if another finger was added in. In a way, it felt more intimate than saying the words out loud. 

Alex flashes the sign back and watches Willie retreat down the hall. He finally enters the math room and drops down next to Julie, who takes in his appearance and gives him a knowing smirk. 

“Someone had a good dance class,” she says. 

“Shut up,” Alex huffs, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face even if he tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: Willie!
> 
> I forgot to put this at the beginning of the story, but I made a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Jhsn0cg0JZskwAGwc6ZXP?si=-SUrLQPgS_mbtwaUzl2tcQ%E2%80%9C) with a song from each of the fics in this series, and I’ll update it as I write new things. (I learned how to make hyperlinks for this, please check it out, it took me so long)


	4. Nothing Changes but the Names, the Faces, and the Trends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, it’s beyond me,” Willie says, casually leaning back in their seat. Flynn’s one of the most competent people he knows; he doesn’t really want her to know he’s completely inept. “I’m more of a painter.” 
> 
> Flynn glances between them and their computer, which is still stuck on the desktop. She raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know how to work this, do you?” 
> 
> Willie sighs. So much for playing it cool. “I don’t even know how to open Photoshop. Please help me.” 
> 
> Flynn laughs. “Lucky for you, I happen to be an expert.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings: very brief implication of transphobia
> 
> The astronomer Willie idea comes from “How Long Till my Soul Gets it Right” by partyghost (Arokel) and you should absolutely go read it bc it’s one of the best Willie fics I’ve ever read.

Willie wasn’t joking when they told Alex they knew nothing about computers. There was a time when he was fluent with the latest 1980s technology, but it’s been decades since he’s had his hands on anything current. Caleb wasn’t too fond of his ghosts keeping up with the times (it made them more of a novelty for the lifers if they showed their age), so Willie mostly relied on eavesdropping around skateparks and Sunset Boulevard for information on the changing world. When he wanted to research something, which was often, he snuck into the library. Sometimes he would use their computers, but books were more familiar to him. Sometime in the early 2000s they nicked a laptop from the back of a store, and that’s what they’ve been using since. 

Even if that laptop had continued to function like it did at its prime, it would not have prepared Willie for this class. From the moment they sit down in front of the state-of-the-art Mac they’re completely lost. They manage to log in, but beyond that, they’re helpless. They glance around at their classmates, most of whom are already fooling around in Photoshop. 

Willie is considering asking the teacher to change classes when a blur of color drops into the seat next to them, punching them lightly on the shoulder as it does so. 

“Willie!” Flynn cries. “Thank god, I was getting tired of having to fend for myself against all these art kids.” 

Willie flashes her a relieved grin. “Aren’t you supposed to be in music classes?” 

“I had a free period, and I thought this would help with marketing for the band.” She pulls up Photoshop and opens her most recent project, turning her monitor so Willie can see. It’s a poster for the band, with a photo of Julie surrounded by the silhouettes of the phantoms. 

“Wicked,” Willie breathes. “How did you do that?” 

“It was pretty easy,” she shrugs. “This is one of the simpler ones I’ve made.” 

“Well, it’s beyond me,” Willie says, casually leaning back in their seat. Flynn’s one of the most competent people he knows; he doesn’t really want her to know he’s completely inept. “I’m more of a painter.” 

Flynn glances between them and their computer, which is still stuck on the desktop. She raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know how to work this, do you?” 

Willie sighs. So much for playing it cool. “I don’t even know how to open Photoshop. Please help me.” 

Flynn laughs. “Lucky for you, I happen to be an expert.”

Flynn spends the period showing them the basics of how to navigate both the computer and Photoshop. Whenever the teacher wanders over to check on them, they both feign working on their own projects. The teacher tells Willie to let her know if he has any questions, and he has many, but he doesn’t know how to explain being a seventeen-year-old in 2020 with no knowledge of modern technology, so he pretends he’s up to speed. 

They’re surprised at how much they actually enjoy being taught by Flynn. They usually don’t like not knowing things, which is why they spent so much time breaking into libraries and stuffing their head with random facts, ready to be spewed back out whenever a conversation calls for it. Beyond that, the last time they were in school, they were _expected_ to know everything, especially in their science classes. After all, no seventeen-year-old gets into the astronomy program at UC Berkeley without already knowing way more about space than their classmates. 

Here with Flynn, though, there’s none of that pressure that drove him to drop out in the first place. She doesn’t expect him to know anything, and when she lets him try something by himself and he messes it up, she just chuckles and shows him the right way to do it. By the end of the period, Willie has a basic but decent-looking Julie and the Phantoms poster.

“Hey,” Willie says, as they pack up their things, “thank you. That meant a lot to me.”

“No problem,” Flynn grins. “It’s not every day you get to teach something to a genius.”

Willie groans, though he keeps his tone light, knowing she’s just joking. “Alex told you?”

Flynn nods. “Don’t worry.” She leans into whisper, “It’s our little secret.” Willie laughs, and Flynn starts rummaging through her bag. “I do have something for you, though.”

“For me?” Willie asks. He and Flynn had become good friends over the past few months, but he didn’t know they were gift-giving close.

“Yeah. See, every year I make a new patch for Julie’s backpack, so I made one for all of you too. I gave the guys theirs in homeroom this morning, but I didn’t think I’d see you until lunch.” She finds what she’s looking for and pulls it out, keeping it hidden. “Hold out your hand.”

Willie does as they’re told, and Flynn places the patch in their hand. It’s a meticulously hand-stitched image of a planet. “Jupiter,” Willie grins. “How’d you know it was my favorite planet?”

“Alex.”

Willie rolls his eyes. “Of course.”

Flynn slips her backpack on, fiddling with the straps. “Is it okay? I wasn’t sure… I mean, I know you stopped doing astronomy, but--“

“Flynn,” Willie cuts her off, “I love it. Thank you.” He drops an arm around her shoulder and they walk out of the classroom together. “I do still love astronomy,” they admit a few paces down the hall, “it was just that studying it wasn’t making me happy anymore. I wanted time to just be a teenager, not some future rocket scientist.” They let out a little laugh. “If I’d only known I’d be a teenager forever.” Flynn gives him a sad look, and he shakes it off, holding up the patch. “This, though? This makes me so happy.”

Flynn grins. “I’m glad.” 

They reach the cafeteria, and Flynn draws them to a halt. “Just to warn you,” she says, “Luke’s been really pissy all day.”

“What else is new?” Willie snorts. 

“No, like, _really_ pissy.”

“I’m sure we can handle it.” Willie leads Flynn into the cafeteria before realizing he has no idea where he’s going. He lets Flynn guide him to the table where the others are sitting. 

“Hey man,” Willie says, patting Luke on the back before taking their seat next to Alex. 

“Fuck off,” Luke growls. 

Willie glances at Flynn, and she shoots them a look that screams _I told you so_.

“What’s wrong with him?” Willie whispers to Alex. 

Alex rolls his eyes. “He has a bunch of classes with Nick.”

“Aw, someone’s jealous,” Flynn teases.

“Shut up,” Luke snaps, and Julie puts a placating hand on his arm. 

Willie laughs with the rest of the table, but Willie gets it. He’s still a little wary around Nick, too. Caleb did some awful things to all of them while in Nick’s body, and they all know it wasn’t Nick’s fault, but it’s still hard to look him in the eye. 

“We had gym class earlier, too,” Reggie adds, “which was not a fun time.”

“Did someone give you a hard time?” Julie asks. “Like in the locker room or something?”

“No, not about that,” Reggie says, “Luke just sucks at basketball, and I got stuck on his team.”

Alex leans over and pats Reggie’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re helping, buddy.”

Reggie shrugs. “Well, it’s true. We got crushed.”

Reggie launches into the tale of their epic gym class failure, and Willie listens for a while, letting their mind slowly drift off to thoughts of the homework they have to do tonight. Their panting teacher assigned a self-portrait, and Willie can’t wait to get home to work on it. The teacher said they could go as far outside of the box as they wanted, so they’re going to use an old skate deck as a canvas. With a jolt, Willie realizes this might be the first time he’s ever been genuinely excited about doing homework. 

Alex’s shoulder nudges against theirs, jostling them out of their thoughts. 

“What’re you thinking about?” He asks quietly.

Willie looks around at their friends gathered around the table, teasing Luke for his lack of skills until they finally get a laugh out him, and then back to Alex. “I’m thinking that I’m really glad we did this.”

“Yeah,” Alex sighs, “me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last but most certainly not least, Luke!


	5. And You Still Listen to the Same Shit You Did Back Then

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke is not an anxious person. Even his most troubled days are barely above Alex’s baseline levels of anxiety. If anything, he’s prone to _under_ -thinking. But from the moment he woke up this morning, his head was filled with aggressive, buzzing fears about anything and everything that could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t think there’s any content warnings for this one. Luke is just anxious and there’s some vague references to whatever Caleb did as Nick.

Luke is not an anxious person. Even his most troubled days are barely above Alex’s baseline levels of anxiety. If anything, he’s prone to _under_ -thinking. But from the moment he woke up this morning, his head was filled with aggressive, buzzing fears about anything and everything that could go wrong. 

The buzzing only got louder as he got ready for school, stressing about everything from which clothes he should wear to the possibility of forgetting one of his textbooks.

It got worse during homeroom, with the fear of a potential deadnaming looming over him, and then even worse when he had to let Reggie go to English on his own. The worries about what might happen to himself became mangled with what might happen to Reggie without Luke there to protect him. 

He finally got Reggie back in guitar class, though it meant separating from everybody else. And then, because the universe hates him, Luke’s second least favorite person in the world walked in. Nick Danforth-Evans. 

Luke managed to ignore him for most of the period by putting all his focus on Reggie, but he could feel the tension building under his skin, to the point where he snapped at Willie at lunch. He feels bad about it, and that only adds to the buzzing in his head. 

As lunch comes to an end, Luke regrets his short attitude towards his friends even more. Because now, he has to go to the special ed math class by himself, and he would give anything to stay at that lunch table forever. 

“It’s only an hour,” Julie assures him as they reach the classroom door. “You can handle it.” 

“Julie...” he whines, but she cuts him off with a kiss on the cheek. 

“I’ll see you later.” She gives him one last pat on the arm and goes off to her own class. 

He sighs, knowing he brought this on himself. If he hadn’t been such a dick at lunch, she would have been a lot more supportive. 

Luke walks into the classroom and groans when he sees that it’s filled with tables for two. He claims the seat in the corner farthest from the door. He crosses his arms and scowls, trying to radiate _Don’t talk to me_. 

It works, for a few minutes. A couple kids enter and eye the back table, only to catch Luke’s glare and decide on a different seat. As the chairs in front of him start to fill, however, the buzzing gets louder and his legs start to bounce. He digs through his backpack and pulls out his Walkman, which he slipped in this morning as a kind of security blanket. His favorite cassette, _Nevermind_ , is already inside and he presses play, letting “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cut through the buzz. 

The bouncing of Luke’s leg slows until it matches the beat of the song, and his breathing evens out with it. 

Of course, it can’t last. Because fucking Nick Danforth-Evans walks through the door, and Luke realizes that the only open seat left is the one right next to him. 

Nick takes it with an apologetic smile. “Sorry,” he says, not quite meeting Luke’s eyes. “I can ask someone to switch with me.”

Luke rolls his eyes. “Whatever,” he huffs. He turns the volume of the Walkman up louder and pointedly looks anywhere but at Nick. 

Nick must be able to hear the music through Luke’s headphones, though, because his hands start forming the chords to the song almost subconsciously. It catches Luke’s attention, and he spares a curious glance towards Nick. Nick meets his eye and quickly looks away. 

“That’s my favorite album,” he says, ducking his head. 

Luke sighs and turns down the volume. “Explains the lame attempt at Cobain’s hair,” he snarks, gesturing at Nick’s blonde locks. 

To his surprise, Nick laughs. Like, a genuine laugh. “Yeah,” he chuckles, “I’ve been trying to grow it out for ages. I’ve always wanted to look like him, but I’m not making much progress.” 

Luke just stares at him, not quite sure how to respond. His friends know when to laugh off his blunt comments, but he’s been told before that outsiders find him rude. He doesn’t mean to be that way most of the time, but this time he definitely does, so why is Nick taking it so cheerfully?

It’s a mystery he doesn’t get to solve, because the teacher calls class to a start. 

Luke knows the others will want to know what he thought of the class; if it helped him at all, but Luke can’t focus on a word the teacher is saying.

If he’s being honest, Luke knows he’s being unfair to Nick. Before the Orpheum, he found Nick more amusing than anything. Sure, he was a tiny bit jealous that Nick could feasibly be with Julie and he couldn’t, but he knew what he and Julie had was special. And even if Julie _had_ chosen Nick, Luke doesn’t think he would have been this level of hostile towards him. He respects Julie’s choices, and he would have been devastated, but he wouldn’t have taken that out on either of them. 

But then Caleb happened. Caleb did terrible things to all of them, but worst of all he hurt Julie in so many ways, and he did it all while wearing Nick’s face. Luke knows—he _knows_ — that none of it is Nick’s fault. He’s just as much a victim as any of them, maybe more so, but every time Luke looks at him all he can see is the absolutely devastated and horrified look on Julie’s face that he never wants to see again. 

After forty-five minutes of prattling on about fractions or something, Luke has no fucking clue, the teacher decides that the last fifteen minutes will be dedicated to the students getting to know their desk partners. 

“After all,” he says, “these will be your seats for the rest of the year.”

This elicits more than a few groans, none louder than Luke’s. He reaches for his Walkman again, but before he can put on the headphones, Nick places a gentle hand on Luke’s shoulder. Luke jerks away, and Nick immediately retracts his hand. 

“I’m sorry,” Nick says, “I just wanted to get your attention, I didn’t mean to...” He cuts himself and takes a deep breath. “Look, I still don’t remember most of what happened while I was... you know. But I can tell that he hurt you, bad, and I’m sorry. If was in control of myself I would have never _ever_ done anything to hurt any of you. I know that doesn’t change what he did, and I really don’t blame you for hating me, but yeah. I just wanted you to know I’m sorry.” 

Luke studies him, searching for any sign of insincerity. “He hurt me,” he says finally, “but that’s not what I care about. It’s that he hurt my boys, and Willie, and _Julie_.”

Luke knows Nick knows this, but the look of horror and guilt on his face are as fresh as when Caleb first left his body. 

“I _never_ want to hurt her again,” Nick whispers, and Luke can tell he means it with his entire being. He looks up at Luke, tears welling in his eyes. “I know you’re her boyfriend, and that’s fine, that would be fine even if _he_ hadn’t happened, but I care about her. I really do. I would do anything to go back in time and stop this all from happening.” 

Something in Luke softens. He knows what it’s like to love Julie Molina. It’s something that takes up your entire soul. He also knows what it’s like to hurt Julie Molina, how it makes you ache deep in your bones, and he can see that reflected in Nick’s eyes. 

He lets out a long sigh. “What’s your favorite song?”

“What?” Nick frowns. 

Luke rolls his eyes and gestures to the Walkman. “On _Nevermind_. We’re supposed to be getting to know each other, right?”

“Oh,” Nick blinks. “Um, it’s ‘In Bloom.’”

Luke nods. “Good choice.”

Nick hesitates before asking, “What’s yours?”

“‘Come As You Are.’” Luke flicks his eyes over to Nick, and the look he offers isn’t exactly a smile, but at the very least it’s a peace offering. 

Nick slumps in relief, a small smile spreading on his face. “I love that one.”

They spend the rest of the class making small talk about Nirvana and which of their songs are hardest to play. 

As the period ends and they pack up their bags, Luke turns to Nick. 

“Hey, man,” he says, internally groaning at what he’s about to say. “I’m sorry I wasn’t being fair to you. I know it wasn’t your fault—that it wasn’t you at all. It’s just—me and the boys and Willie, we don’t really know _you_ , you know? We just need some time.” 

“Yeah,” Nick nods, “I get it. Thanks, Luke.” 

Luke’s friends, minus Willie, are waiting him outside the classroom, and he sees every single one of them frown when he walks out with Nick. He gives Nick a curt nod, then goes to join his friends, who watch him like he’s about to explode. 

“How was it?” Alex asks cautiously. 

Luke takes a second to think about it. “Not great, but I think it’ll get better.”

“Ever the optimist.” Reggie rolls his eyes and drops an arm around Luke’s shoulder. He leans in and whispers, “If you need a tutor, I got you.” 

“Thanks, buddy.”

“Well boys,” Flynn says, “you made it through the day. All that’s left is music class and that should be a piece of cake.”

She’s right, Luke realizes. He made it. And to his surprise, the buzzing in his head is gone. 

“So?” Julie asks him, linking their hands together. “Think you’ll be able to do this for a bit.” 

He looks around at his friends and squeezes Julie’s hands. “As long as you guys are with me, yeah. I think I can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this was a long one, thanks for sticking with it. Hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I’m wr0temyway0ut on tumblr if you want to come chat about these ghosties or send prompts/requests.


End file.
